It's not unusual for John Cardinal to be hauled out of a warm bed on a cold night in Algonquin Bay to investigate a murder. And at first this dead body, sprawled in the parking lot of Motel 17, looks pretty run of the mill: the corpse has a big bootprint on his neck, and the likely suspect is his lover's outraged husband. But the lover has gone missing. And then Delorme, following a hunch, locates another missing woman, a senator's wife from Ottawa, frozen in the ruins of an abandoned hotel way back in the woods. Spookily, she was chained up and abandoned wearing a new winter parka and boots, with a thermos beside her--as if her murderer was giving her a whisper of a chance at survival.

Neither Delorme nor Cardinal can imagine where their investigation will lead: into a decades-old injustice committed in the high Arctic; into the swingers' world inhabited by an ex-rock star who owns a pub in Algonquin Bay as well as private members' clubs in Toronto and Ottawa; into the insecurity that afflicts Delorme the woman and the cop; and into the deep bond between Delorme and Cardinal, which is at real risk of coming undone.

In Until the Night, Giles Blunt outdoes himself, creating a masterpiece of crime fiction that will not only haunt his fans and readers, but delight and amaze them too.

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Product Description

Review

WINNER 2013 – Arthur Ellis Awards—Best Crime Novel

Praise for Giles Blunt"[Giles Blunt's novels] stand as landmarks in what we might think of as the new Canadian crime wave. . . . John Cardinal is the quintessential modern Canadian crime fiction hero--the northern lawman reimagined." —The Walrus"Blunt writes with the flashing grace of an ice skater skimming over a frozen pond."--The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

GILES BLUNT grew up in North Bay, Ontario. After spending over twenty years in New York City, he now lives in Toronto. He has written scripts for Law & Order, Street Legal and Night Heat, and is the author of the bestselling Cardinal crime series, which he is adapting as a television series for CTV. He has won the British Crime Writers' Macallan Silver Dagger and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. Until the Night is his sixth novel featuring John Cardinal and Lise Delorme.

Most helpful customer reviews

Until the Night marks the sixth (and much awaited) entry in Giles Blunt's mystery series featuring Detective John Cardinal.

Until the Night opens with a cryptic entry from something called The Blue Notebook, giving us a brief glance into an Arctic science station. The next chapter takes us back to more familiar territory - Algonquin Bay, Ontario - 340 miles north of Toronto. It is here that John Cardinal lives and works. He and counterpart Lise Delorme are called in to investigate what looks to be a domestic murder - a husband murdering his wife's lover. But the wife is missing too - also murdered? She is found, dead, but in odd circumstances. As is yet another woman. And the case leads Cardinal and Delorme down paths they couldn't imagine.

As their investigation progresses, so do the entries from The Blue Notebook - and we are slowly privy to more and more details.

Blunt has done it again - an absolutely original, intelligent, riveting plot that kept me reading.....Until The Night. (Sorry couldn't resist) But, seriously, I did use a Sunday off to devour it from first page to last. Yep, that good.

Why do I like this series so much? Protagonist John Cardinal is the big draw for me. In him, Blunt has created a believable, realistic character whose life has evolved over the course of six books. His personal life involving his wife and her difficulties have provided a storyline handled with thoughtfulness, realism and genuine emotion. His relationship with Delorme has him quite confused and is explored further in this book. We get to delve much deeper into Lise Delorme's life this time. Her own issues, insecurities and demons lead her to a dark place, putting herself and her career at risk. I have become quite invested in both of these characters.Read more ›

Until The Night is the first crime novel that I have read in many years that kept me up well into the night, each night, until I finished it. It combines two stories which are different in every way (journal/narrative, past/present, first person/third person etc.) but both combine seamlessly and eliminate the endless interviews and back stories that causes most mysteries to drag. As with all of his crime fiction, Blunt's research is meticulous and the journal entries from a scientist in the arctic are fascinating and create a unique perspective of the landscape and the north. The primary story in the narrative portion follows the story of Detective Lise Delorme. Reeling from feelings of intense rejection, personally and professionally, she strays in both areas. She follows her own investigation of a recent sex murder and when the investigation leads her into the sex clubs owned by the primary suspect a personal interest in them materializes. There is a hovering Catholicism in the north (which those of us who have lived there know and which Blunt captures) with its rules of behaviour and guilt for those who transgress (which all of us do). Delorme's is an unusual story line for a crime novel but the author is at his best when sympathetically exploring these complex human situations. This is a series, after all, which began with a detective hiding a crime of his own. Like all of Blunt's novels in this series there is a vivid sense of place and fully drawn characters. But there is something new here as well; this is a crime novel which pushes the genre forward.

I agree with those saying this series is getting better with each book it is of no surprise that with this latest Mr. Blunt won the Arthur Ellis Awards for best crime novel in 2013. Congratulations Mr. Blunt.

“Until the Night” is a dark and convoluted mystery beautifully written with exceptionally solid characters. This is a must read for fans of this series. A caution, some may be offended by the crude language and the sex scenes that pepper the chapters.

The mystery has two captivating stories cleverly interwoven in the typical Blunt’s style and technique. It opens with what looks like an ordinary case of adultery gone wrong. A man found dead in a cheap motel, the woman accompanying him has vanished and the likely suspect is the lovers’ outraged husband. One thing leads to another and the investigation uncovers a string of missing women and leads our duo of Cardinal and Delorme into a decades-old injustice committed in the high Arctic. In alternating chapters “The Blue Notebook” details what happened on an Arctic research station in the past. Reading this immediately captured my interest, it is gripping with tension and drama and of course Mr. Blunt’s powerfully describes the spell of the Arctic landscape with all of its beauties and horrors…this is quite an atmospheric mystery. Both plots are clever with plenty of twists and turns to have kept me on the edge of my seat till the final page. This book is most satisfying.

In a final note the author acknowledges this was one of those books requiring considerable research.

As other reviews have pointed out, this is the sixth book in the series and also the most complex. I am a character person, and John Cardinal is a great character, as is his partner, Lise Delorme. Their interaction is part of what sets this series apart.

In this book, they are working somewhat apart, for two reasons. One has to do with developments in their friendship, and the other has to do with two separate cases. Lise puts herself in some very difficult situations in order to nail a killer, while cardinal has to deal an idiot who is the lead on the case he is working.

We read a log from someone who had been on an arctic scientific station, and we read about someone who kidnaps women and allows them to freeze to death. The two narratives are clearly connected but we really don't learn the specifics until near the end of the book.

The hunt for the killer is interesting and leads from Algonquin Bay to Ottawa, Parry Sound and Toronto. The end is part a bit of a thriller in terms of will they get there in time, but Blunt handles the sequence in great style.

There is a great plot and great characters. What else does a reader need?